Comment on the ways in which emotions are presented in the forsaken wife.

Emotions are presented in the forsaken wife through the form, language and structure used in
the poem. Demotic language is used to illustrate that the persona is not the only one that has
experienced the suffering of cheating and unrequited love.

The lyric poem has a tetrameter rhyme scheme and stressed rhyme at the end of each line. This
suggests that she is in control and superior to her husband. The apostrophe on the first line
illustrates that her husband is absent and the diction ‘forsaken’ in the title further illustrates
that the husband has neglected and abandoned his wife.

Parallel syntax is used in each stanza to show the progressive emotion from self-pity to rage to
acceptance. The first parallel syntax conveys that the husband showed no humanity in the
treatment of his wife. The husband could not afford ‘one pitying look, one parting word’, to at
least say goodbye or show feelings of remorse. The caesura presents that the persona was
longing for her husband to give one last look of recognition. The words are bitterly spit out as
shown through the consonance of the ‘p’ sound, highlighting the emotion of bitterness. Society
at the time expected wives to suffer silently when they were cheated on, ‘my broken heart your
broken vows’ displays the inequality women faced at the time. The persona was forced to suffer
silently while her husband was the one causing her the pain. The last parallel syntax ‘to love, to
honour and to fame’ illustrates that the wife has accepted the departure of her husband and
will wait for him to fulfill his vows.

The first stanza is the shortest one, suggesting that the persona feels small when she pities
herself. Thomas displays the persona’s fury through the repetition of the word ‘humanity’ which
illustrates that the husband was behaving abnormally to human beings as they would feel guilt
and remorse but it seemed easy for the husband to turn away. The rhetorical question ‘but
what’s humanity to you?’ displays the persona’s fury as she denotes that her husband is
inhumane with the sarcasm.

The inequality of men and women is prominent in the phrase ‘I am not blind’ as the persona
displays that she is aware of her husband’s mischiefs even though she does not alert society of
it. The semi colon after ‘blind:’ shows the long pause taken in the speech as the anger was so
strong. The husband receives ‘love’ elsewhere while in return the persona is left in ‘ruin’ as her
reputation is tarnished even though her husband is the one in the wrong. Her husband’s hate is
‘rigid’ proving that she has no expectation that he will change. The consonance ‘spite of fate’
highlights the ‘f’ sound which builds up the tone of frustration and anger. Despite the torture
the persona faces, she feels dominant and ‘preeminence’ because she will stay true despite her
husband’s infidelity.
The tone of the poem changes from being a personal cry to a condemnation of a whole society.
Thomas uses imperatives to display the boldness of the persona. She is now in control, giving
orders to society to show ‘a man that dare be true’ as she is positive that there is no man that
‘dares suffer’ what she has. The two imperative lines are monosyllabic, depicting the persona’s
pride and strength. Possessive words such as ‘own’ further displays that the persona is fully
confident that women are superior to men. The caesurae in the line ‘but till that time, my dear,
adieu’ illustrates sarcasm, that she will wait but she knows she would be waiting forever. The
cyclic rhyme reminds the husband that she is superior to him. An alternative interpretation
could also be that things are still the same as it were in the beginning as she addresses him as
‘my dear’ which could suggest that she still loves him.

Bianca 3 March 2018